When you fell in love, there were no guarantees. Sometimes, past learnings didn’t matter anymore, not when you really loved someone. Forgiving Ryan and not dwelling on all the reasons we were torn apart allowed us to have a second chance. I learned that weighing the risk was driven by the mind, not the heart. That’s where the fundamental difference lies between business and love. When it comes to love, faith replaces risk. Better late than never, but I was finally learning from my mistakes and reaping the rewards.
Three Years Later …
“Ten minutes, ladies,” Kelli, the wedding coordinator, barked.
The four of us, Anna, Catherine, Lauren, and I, put the finishing touches on our makeup and hair and did a once over in the mirror. I heard the string quartet playing in the chapel. The Villa Academy chapel was a gorgeous chapel built in the 1920s with arched ceilings and stain glass windows. It was a beautiful location to hold a wedding ceremony.
I peeked my head out the door, making sure the late guests weren’t dawdling in the foyer and were being seated. Kelli noticed me and signaled for us to come out. I lead the procession of bridesmaids.
As we rounded the corner, I spotted Ryan standing with two other groomsmen. Ironically, one of them was one of Catherine’s doctors. Kelli waved her hands, ushering us to gather in the foyer of the church, but it was difficult to hurry in heels whilst helping to maneuver layers of silk organza.
Ryan looked dashingly handsome in his black, custom-made suit. Even three years later, he made my heart flutter and I felt like the luckiest woman in the world. When we finally reached him and Kelli, he greeted me with a kiss on the cheek and said, “You’re beautiful.” He gazed down at me with love and appreciation, then focused to the person to his right. “You don’t look too bad yourself, Catherine,” he teased.
Catherine answered by nudging him affectionately in the ribs and giving him a radiant smile.
Since Catherine’s father didn’t have the physical capacity to walk her down the aisle, she had asked Ryan to give her away at her wedding. This was poignant and appropriate because Ryan was essentially her family.
She had asked him a few months ago when a group of us, including her fiancé, Charlie, were having dinner at Betty’s to celebrate my independence as a small business owner. I had decided that I no longer needed to bill hours to break even. I had actually passed that point a while ago, but I still felt compelled to finish out my last contract. I had twenty-four consultants working for me at that time and I wanted to focus more on business development. Ryan thought I should branch out to other companies. There were too many consulting companies in Redmond that had MS as their only client. Since there was no conflict of interest with companies like Amazon or Starbucks, Ryan thought he could help me get contracts with them via some of his networking contacts. Today, I had almost double the number of consultants.
Just before dessert, Catherine and Charlie together asked Ryan for the favor. Ryan was honored, of course, and it was very fitting that he be the man to walk Catherine down the aisle.
It was also fitting that Charlie and Catherine had met at a fundraiser for breast cancer. Charlie was perinatologist at Swedish hospital. His mother passed away from breast cancer several years ago, which was why he was a strong advocate for breast cancer awareness. He met Catherine after her chemotherapy treatments had completed. She didn’t have any hair at the time and that was when she claimed she was physically at her worst appearance. I couldn’t have found her more beautiful. However, that was one reason she believed Charlie really loved her—he had seen her at her very worst and now at her best. They started out as friends, but as her health got better and she began to believe that she was going to beat the cancer, she opened herself up to the relationship. Personally, Ryan and I both thought Charlie was a guardian angel. He was the right man and he came into Catherine’s life at just the right time. Maybe life was all about serendipitous encounters or maybe that’s just another description of fate. My belief still held that we just had to recognize them enough to take advantage of the opportunity when they happened.
Catherine fought her cancer bravely and tirelessly with everything she had and we were by her side the whole time. I was in awe of Catherine’s ongoing courage and strength. I never ceased to be amazed at her ability to stay positive and see beauty, along with the pain, in her difficult journey. No one deserved a happier ending more than Catherine.
Catherine looked stunning in her designer wedding gown, a simple, elegant design with a strapless, fitted bodice and an A-line ball gown skirt. Her signature blond hair had grown back long enough to be styled into a sleek chignon at the nape of her neck. She was channeling Grace Kelly with her classic beauty.